Outcasts (Badlands 3)

Recap

This is a quick rundown of events from Savages and Deviants that will pertain to Outcasts. Mild spoilers are ahead for anyone who has not read the first two books.

Cali saved Arlen from a barn where she was being held by cannibals. They were both taken in by Romero, the leader of the Savages, a satanic cult masquerading as a lawless gang. He was accompanied by two men when this happened: Cobra and Grimm.

The first two books were mainly about disbanding another cult known as The Order, which was ultimately achieved. In the first book, there was a room full of people’s belongings. That will be explained in more detail. Arlen has since been kidnapped by Romero’s brother Noah as ‘collateral’.

Just remember to keep in mind as you read Outcasts that nothing can ever be taken at face value.

This book is a standalone in the series and centers around Arlen and Grimm—aptly nick-named after the Grim Reaper.

I hope you love these two crazies as much as I do. ?

pulvis et umbra sumus.

Prelude

There is no light to be found here, only darkness.

Our world is full of monsters that no longer bother wearing friendly faces.

The saints and the uncorrupted have either perished or hidden away. Sinners and the dearly depraved have gladly taken their place.

I am not an exception.

I am a lover of death.

It came to me in the form of a man revered as the Grim Reaper himself. They call him a demon, something straight out of nightmares; a loyal solider in the devil’s army.

He was the reckoning I never saw coming.

I am the Persephone to his Hades.

He is the misery I crave.

He became my absolution by showing me that hell, too, had beauty.

I became his salvation by accepting him for who and what he was.

We are not soul-mates, but one eternal flame split in two.

We were going to set fire to anything and anyone that stood between us and the way back to our dark paradise.

Our story is passionate, sometimes painful, other times brutal.

I advise you leave your morals at the door.

You will find we outcasts have none.

Chapter One

PAST

He told me to sit taller, look softer, keep my mouth shut, and smile.

Clearly, he forgot who his daughter was. I never shut the hell up. My mouth was a pistol, my tongue a silver bullet. I wasn’t particularly good at aimin, but I could aim just fine when backed into a cor